Early Tamil Epigraphy is the first definitive edition
of the earliest Tamil
inscriptions in the Tamil-Brahmi and Early Vatteluttu scripts dating
from ca.
the second century B.C.E. to the sixth century C.E.

The book is based on the author's extensive fieldwork carried
out
in two spells between 1962-66 and 1991-1996.

The study deals comprehensively with the epigraphy, language and contents
of
the inscriptions. The texts are given in transliteration with translation
and an
extensive word by word commentary.

The inscriptions are illustrated with tracings made directly from
the stone,
estampages and direct photographs.

Palaeography of the Tamil-Brahmi and Early Vatteluttu scripts is described
in detail
with the help of letter charts. The special orthographic and grammatical
features of the earliest Tamil inscriptions are described in this work
for the
first time.

A glossary of inscriptional words and several classified word lists
have been added to aid further research.

The introductory chapters deal with the discovery and decipherment of
the
inscriptions relating their language and contents to early Tamil literature
and
society.

The recently discovered Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions on pottery and
objects like coins, seals, rings, etc., have also been utilised to
present a
more complete picture of early Tamil epigraphy.

The author:

IRAVATHAM MAHADEVAN (b. 1930) is a specialist in Indian epigraphy,
especially in the fields of Indus and Brahmi scripts. He was awarded
the
Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 1970 for his research in Indus script
and
the National Fellowship of the Indian Council of Historical Research
in 1992 for his work on Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions.

His book, The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables (1977)
is recognised internationally as a major source book for research
in the Indus script. He has also published Corpus of theTamil-Brahmi Inscriptions (1966), besides numerous papers on
several aspects of the Tamil-Brahmi script.

He has served as the Co-ordinator, International Associationof Tamil Research, for 10 years (1980-90). He was elected
he President of the Annual Congress of the EpigraphicalSociety of India in 1998 and the General President of the
Indian History Congress for its session in 2001.
He served the Indian Administrative Service and retired
voluntarily to devote himself to full-time academic pursuits.